220 DIRECTIONS HOW TO LEAD A faithfully and diligently to practise such duties as will especially assist thee in attaining to a heavenly life. And (I.) the hinderances to be avoided with all possible care, are,living in any known sin, an earthly mind, the company of the ungodly, a notional religion, a proud and lofty spirit, a slothful spirit, and resting in mere preparations for this heavenly life, without any acquaintance of the thing itself. § 2. (1) Living in any known sin, is a grand impedi- ment to a heavenly conversation. What havock will this make in thy soul! O the joys that this bath destroy- ed ! the ruin it bath made amongst men's graces ! The soul- strengthening duties it bath hindered ! Christian Reader, art thou one that bath used violence with thy conscience ? Art thou a wilful neglecter of known du- ties, either public, private, or secret ? Art thou a slave to thine appetite, or to any other commanding sense? Art thou a proud seeker of thine own esteem ? Art thou a peevish and passionate person, ready to take fire at every Word or look, or supposed slight ? Art thou a de- ceiver of others in thy dealings, or one that will be rich, right or wrong ? If this be thy case, I dare say heaven and thy soul are very great strangers. These beams in thine eyes will not suffer thee to look to heaven ; they will be a cloud between thee and thy God. W hen thou dost but attempt to study eternity, and gather comforts from the life to come, thy sin will presently look thee in the face, and say, "These things belong not to thee. How shouldst thou take comfort from heaven, who takest so much pleasure in the lust of the flesh ?" How will this damp thy joys, and make the thoughts of that day and state become thy trouble, and not thy delight. Every wilful sin will be to thy comforts, as water to thy fire; when thou thin kest to quicken them, this will quench them. It will utterly indispose and disable thee, that thou canst no more ascend in divine meditation than a bird can fly when its wings are clipped. Sin cuts the very sinews of this heavenly life. O man ! what a life dost thou lose ! What daily delights dost thou sell for a vile lust ! If heaven and hell can meet together, and God become a lover of sin, then mayest thou live
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